The present invention is deemed to be a considerable and meritorius improvement over the inventions disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,022,479 and U.S. Ser. No. 840,374 filed Oct. 7, 1977. It is well known that in most industries it is extremely important that a seal be provided for bearings that support rotating shafts. These seals generally prevent the lubricants associated with the bearings from leaking externally of an associated housing or bearing support and also prevent foreign particles in the environment in which the shaft is rotating from working themselves through the seal and into the lubricant for the bearings.
The aforementioned patent incorporates the disclosure where there is taught a sealing ring structure which has as an object elimination of movement of a lubricant from the bearings to the outside of the housing. The sealing ring structure as disclosed also assists in eliminating the movement of foreign particles into the bearing area and lubricant area within the housing. Both the aforementioned patent and the aforementioned application disclose a sealing structure that is composed of two rings, preferably metal. In the structure disclosed in the patent one of the rings is fixed to the housing and the other is fixed to rotate with the shaft. The ring that is fixed to the housing has a labyrinth-type of seal against the shaft which discourages lubricant from moving outside the housing along the shaft. In the prior patent a joint was provided between the two rings which is composed of an annular recess in the first ring that opens axially outward of the housing and an annular flange adjoining the outer ring that faces the aforementioned annual recess in the first ring. The structure disclosed in the patent was also provided with a hole in the first sealing ring that communicates to the aforementioned recess. In this embodiment the annular flange of the second sealing ring had notches cut therein. With such an arrangement foreign particles that moved into a joint formed by the recess and flanges were scraped by the notches in the flanges to a hole where they were discharged back into the atmosphere over the area surrounding the housing. In the structure disclosed in the prior patent the first ring is, of course, fixed to the housing. The second ring is, of course, adapted to rotate with the shaft by suitable sealing means. However, in both instances there is no movement between the respective sealing rings and a portion of it is fixed to which would normally create wear if the opposite occurred.